Often sensitive industries such as those dependent on agricultural resources are left out of FTAs. On the other hand, FTAs can bring in specific nonWTO aspects like competition policy to facilitate trade. In this paper, the development of the AANZFTA is analysed within a framework characterising...

There are many documented cases of transmission from birds to people, but as yet only rare instances of human to human transmission. Nonetheless, public health officials are concerned about the possibility of a human pandemic, and many countries have policies of banning imports of live birds and...

This paper considers how the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process, given its institutional characteristics, can contribute to the efforts undertaken by the World Health Organisation (WHO) against infectious disease (ID). By considering the history of APECs ID initiatives, this paper...

In October 2005, the Crawford School (then the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government) within the Australian National University (ANU) initiated a major research project on China and East Asian Energy. The project is being undertaken under the schools East Asia Forum in conjunction with...

Japans small farming represents a puzzle. Currently nearly three-quarters of farmland is operated by farmers whose farm size is well under optimal size. Being too small is the main reason for the high cost of Japanese farm products, so why does inefficient, small farming persist and market...

Despite some recovery in recent years, Central Asian Republics (CARs) remain in difficult economic situation and they present a serious challenge to Asia. It is in the mutual interest of both CARs and rest of Asia (including India) to explore the avenues for more intensive regional economic...

Foreign capital inflows (FKI) help an economy by financing the imbalance between income and expenditure. However, their impact on poverty in the recipient economy is a controversial issue. In this study, we examine the impact on poverty in two different scenarios : (1) labour is homogeneous; (2)...

Recognizing that the lack of financial resources to support the provision of basic services and to fund local development plans is a critical concern at the local level to attain improvements in key human development outcomes, the paper discusses the different sources of LGU revenues, both...

This paper examines the effect of land reform and land transfer actions of farmer beneficiaries on land ownership concentration. A case study of two rice-growing villages was used to track down ownership changes over a period of time. Land reform has succeeded in the break up of huge estates in...

In March and October 2005, the Government of Indonesia reduced fuel subsidy and allocated part of the funds to the BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah-School Operational Assistance) Program, which commenced in July 2005. This program is provided for schools at the primary and junior high school...